Can you tell us about the origin of the band name, a history of the band and a little bit about the various members?

We are two guys from northern Germany: Heiko Skirde on guitar and me, Jörn Daub as lead vocalist. We have been writing music for quite some time, but only recently decided to make the jump into the limelight and publish our debut single Afterworld Rock’n’roll. More shall follow.

Soon after we started writing music it became clear that quite a few of our songs were political in nature. Not so much in what now has become a war of the trenches but more in a “look what this does to people” way. One is about a girl whose father returns from the Iraq war in a casket. Another one is about the hopes and dreams of the Arab Spring movement. We believe that shining a light on Average Joe’s struggles subverts the ignorant reactiveness of people in power. In the hope of being the elements of society actively shining such a light we became Subversive Elements. Also, we couldn’t come up with anything better and the domain was available.

Are you all from the same area? How did you get together as a band?

I know this does not make a good origin story for a rock band, but alas, it is the truth: Heiko and I were independently cast as baritone and bass in a mixed a capella group in the early 00s. By the time that group dissolved, we had become good friends and decided we wanted to keep making music together. Luckily, at that point in time home recording had gotten to a point where it was feasible to do so without a full band: Heiko plays guitars and bass, I do the singing, and together we develop the song structure, lyrics and drums, which are later replaced with a real performance by a session musician.

Who are your favourite artists/bands and how have they influenced your own sound?

Heiko has always been a great fan of rock’n’roll and blues and can play and sing most Elvis songs from the back of his head. I’ve mostly been a Metalhead ever since hearing Judas Priest’s Electric Eye at the age of 12. Our tastes in music meet somewhere between ZZ Top and Foo Fighters, between AC/DC and Pearl Jam. I find it incredibly difficult to put a genre label on it, so I’ll stick with Lemmy’s famous words: We are Motörhead, and we play ROCK’N’ROLL!

Did you always have the ambition to be a musician and in a band or did you originally have other plans?

Both of us have always been making music in some shape or form, but neither one of us wanted to enslave themselves to the soulless monster that is the music industry. So, we both built our lives around regular jobs away from the limelight and kept our love for music as a hobby. It is now, with the advent of modern music publishing where we can try to find an audience without the shackles of a big label publisher and a life in a tour bus.

What songs or albums are on your current playlist?

Oh, wow is that a long list, but also a bit of a story. After I bought Midnight Oil’s Beds are Burning (yes, I’m that old and this was before the internet) I discovered their back catalogue one album at a time, basically going back to their roots. My reward was Red Sails in the Sunset, a great album that never got anywhere outside Australia. Ever since then I’ve tried to find and keep hidden gems, which is now much easier online. Recently I rediscovered Crush by Anthrax, a great song buried in an otherwise mediocre album I had totally forgotten about. Then there’s the Courtney Hadwin’s new single Monsters along with That Girl don’t Live Here. Of course, that playlist has lots of well-known artists on it, like every band Dave Grohl has ever played in, but you knew that already, didn’t you?

Do you sing in the shower?

That is a definite yes. Has anyone ever answered no to this? And if so, did you investigate on their suspicious behaviour?

Do you have any plans for the band for this year and into next year?

We want to release more of the back catalogue of music we’ve written over the years and see whether we can grow a fan base for ourselves online.

Do you currently have any new songs/albums ready to be released?

At the moment we’re putting finishing touches on our second single Adrenaline which is a bit more punk rocky than our debut single Afterworld Rock’n’roll. We’re a bit scared whether people appreciate the spectrum of styles in our music, but if people want to hear it, there is a lot more where this came from.

If you could play at any venue in the world where would you choose?

Oh, that’s a bit of a tough one. One part of me says Ed Sulivan Theater, New York City another says River Plate Stadium, Buenos Aires, but I guess my gut feeling gets the final say: Wacken Open Air. I’m not sure we’d be a good fit, but that wasn’t the question, was it?

Do you have a favourite album? If so, what is it?

My mind is going through quite a list. From Master of Puppets through multiple Beatles albums, but it stops at Meat Loaf’s Bat out of Hell. It is one of the few albums that I can listen to ten times in a row without getting bored. Favourite song would be Bohemian Rapsody by Queen for the very same reason.

Do you have any guilty pleasure songs/albums?

Oh yes, dare I say I liked Bad Guy by Billie Eilish. Also, does Ben Howard’s version of Hideaway count? And there are a few songs from my younger years that I’ll still sing along to with the right amount of alcohol, but we’ll just pretend that doesn’t ever happen, okay? OKAY?

If you were putting together the greatest show on earth, who would be playing?

That is half of the premise of our debut single Afterworld Rock’n’roll, as a lot of the people I’d love to see on such a stage are unfortunately not with us anymore. Can you imagine what it would be like if Freddy Mercury were on stage with Jimmy Hendrix and Keith Moon at the drums? And I’d have Meat Loaf, Ronnie James Dio and Jack Black perform Kickapoo live on stage.

Can you remember the first album you bought with your own money? What was it and do you still have it?

I think this may have been OMD’s Junk Culture. Yeah, not metal, not punk, not rock, but experimental new wave. Sorry. But it was on vinyl, does that help my case? Heiko actually remembers the first records he bought: It was Elvis Forever (of course), AC/DC’s If You Want Blood You´ve Got It and Motörhead’s Stone Dead Forever EP. Thanks Heiko, you saved this one.

As your fans will be reading this, is there any message you would like to send out to them?

Hello you. Yes, you, handsome fellow earthling. Attention is one of the rarest things on this planet, and I don’t know how I just got yours.  Thank you for your time. Hug your loved ones and be good to your pets. Also, buy all our merch. What? We don’t even have any merch? Kay. Can the two of us pretend we were sold out due to high demand? And shh… we’ll keep that a secret!

Finally, let us know all your social media sites so your fans, old and new, can find and follow/like you!

It is of utmost importance that you follow us on all InstaToks and FaceTubes:

Web: http://www.subversive-elements.com

Instagram: @subversive_elements

TikTok: @subversive_elements

YouTube: @subversive_elements

Facebook: Subversive.Elements.Music

We, at The Metal Asylum, would like to thank you for your time. Is there is anything further that you would like to add?

Nah, I’m good. Thank you for your time and efforts. Long live the blues, long live metal, long live rock’n’roll.

This interview is the property of The Metal Asylum